be still
by acronymed
Summary: S3!AU. It's a little bit of a thrill, she'll admit, the way he whispers in her ear and presses into her thigh. Wanting. Always wanting. — Caroline/Klaus, Salvaforbes, Elena, Originals. 2/6.
1. you can have

**disclaimer** | standard one, yo.  
**notes** | so i wanted to get this posted before the finale basically ruined all of my klaroline feels. yes, it's multipart. no, you have not all lost your minds. yes, this is real life.

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_It might be impractical_  
_To seek out a new romance_  
_We won't know the actual_  
_If we never take the chance_

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Caroline knows they can't take out Alaric on their own, not without killing Elena. And not _turning her into a vampire _killing her, but _killing _her killing her. Bonnie wants to desiccate him like she did Klaus (and she doesn't cringe when she thinks about him like that, she doesn't, _she doesn't)_, and Caroline worries for the sharp glint in her eyes at the prospect of using the spell again, but there are bigger problems to deal with.

Like:

They don't have the muscle power they need and none of the Originals will help until they know where Klaus is, and Rebekah and Kol keep trying to murder Elena so then Stefan and Damon say they'll never tell them anything if she dies and _nobody _in this _stupid _town can negotiate like, _at all, _so she's stuck trying to placate everyone so nobody slaughters each other and _seriously. _

_Seriously. _She didn't sign up for any of this crap, okay?

But she knows they need Klaus, alive, to help them, even if it means risking Elena. They've been feeding her vampire blood for a week, ever since Matt's car swerved off of Wickery Bridge and they barely made it out. She'll become a vampire if it really gets that far. Caroline isn't worried; she's been secretly hoping for an eternal bestie anyways.

The problem is that Damon is, big surprise here, being an asshole and won't tell anyone where Klaus is, not even Elena. Stefan looks at Caroline sometimes like he wants to, but then Damon snaps his neck and drags him off to their Wonder Twin Bat Cave or _whatever _before he lets something slip, and she is just so done with this.

"Alright," she snarls, the hood of Damon's car crumpling beneath her fist, "I get that you want to protect Elena, I do, but how long do you think it's gonna be before the Originals just stop caring and kill her even without Klaus? And with Alaric running around stabbing everyone, it's only a matter of time before we," she gestures between them, "get staked. We need Klaus. We need the Originals, Damon."

Damon sneers at her, clambers out of the car, and crushes her wrist in his palm until the shattered bones pierce through her skin. She grinds her teeth and glowers at him.

"Touching speech," he drawls, veins darkening around his eyes, "but save it for your boyfriend. Oh, sorry, I seemed to have put him in a coffin and misplaced him." When she shrieks, he adds, "and the next time you touch my car, Barbie, I'll rip your hand straight off."

"Stop being so fucking stubborn," she seethes, fangs sliding painfully along her gums. "Think about the bigger picture, you dick. The world doesn't revolve solely around your single-minded mission to protect Elena from everything you think she can't handle, including breathing."

"Uh," he snorts and she wants to punch him so badly, "actually, newsflash, yeah, it does."

Caroline huffs, drags her arm away from him and shakes out her hand as the bones begin to set and heal. "I know you don't think much of humans," she says, quieter than before, "but she's a lot stronger than you give her credit for."

Damon stares at her, jaw ticking, with his eyebrows pinched together in thought. Then, tensely, "goodbye, Blondie."

She growls as he drives off, kicking up dust behind him. Plan B it is.

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Tyler meets her and Elena at Bonnie's, the one place neither the Salvatores nor the Originals have been invited in. Bonnie has been quieter, more withdrawn lately, ever since the spell. Here, in her house, that's somehow amplified.

"You want me to _what_?" Tyler's eyes flick to Elena, who is stone faced on the couch. It's her plan, and Caroline is actually kind of proud of her. "Tell me I did not just hear that."

"You have to bite Damon," Elena repeats slowly, fingers knotted in her lap. Bonnie smirks a little at her other side. "Klaus' blood is the only cure for a werewolf bite. They'll have to wake him up."

"You're assuming I can get close enough to a hundred and fifty year old vampire to bite him." He turns to Caroline. "Did I piss you off or something? 'cause I can't think of any other reason why you'd want me to do this."

Caroline rolls her eyes. "Oh, my God."

"I'll help with Damon," Bonnie says, almost smiling. Caroline imagines her blowing up Damon's entire brain or something just for the hell of it and shoots Elena a worried look. Elena sends her one right back. "Once he's down, all you have to do is bite him."

"Feel free to dig your teeth in a little," Caroline adds, and at Elena's startled expression amends, "he basically turned my wrist into dust last week, so."

Tyler sits down next to her, almost cautiously. "So why am I not biting Stefan?"

"Because he _wants _to tell m— us, where Klaus is." Caroline bites her lip and hopes no one catches her slip. They don't. She continues, "he's less likely to try and jump in to save Damon than Damon is to try and jump in to save Stefan. If we present it like an ultimatum, Damon can't get all bitchy and act like Stefan betrayed him or whatever the hell he does."

"And what about after Klaus," Tyler makes a face and Caroline folds her fingers neatly under the hem of her skirt so no one sees them clench tight, "heals him and shit? Assuming he does, 'cause you know he hates Damon."

Bonnie frowns. "What do you mean by 'after'?"

"I mean after he's healed and he decides to _kill all of us in our sleep with his bare hands_," Tyler groans, burying his face in Caroline's shoulder. "This might actually be the worst plan to ever come into existence."

"I know," Elena murmurs, her lashes thick and slightly damp against the dark hollows beneath her eyes as she glances down. Caroline squeezes her knee. "But it's the only plan we have. I'll take care of Damon, don't worry."

"What, like you did at that motel?" Tyler sneers a little. "I'm so relieved."

Caroline smiles sweetly at him as Elena tenses next to her, her spine snapping straight. "Remember how much I _didn't _date you when you were a douche bag?"

"Sorry." Tyler actually looks apologetic. "This is just all kinds of fucked."

"Welcome to Mystic Falls," Caroline deadpans. "Did you just move here or something?"

Somehow, despite everything, Elena finds it in her to laugh.

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The first thing Caroline thinks when she sees him is _seriously? You couldn't even try to be unattractive while dead, you bastard? _because there's always this little voice in her head when Klaus is involved that she just can't control, regardless of the situation.

Then, collecting herself, she thinks, _I'm so sorry, Tyler. What is wrong with me?_

Her hands feel heavy. Outside, Stefan is rhythmically tapping his knuckles against the tomb wall. The beat sounds a little like the song that had been playing on the radio when they'd driven here. Her and Tyler's song. She hiccups. Stefan stops.

Klaus looks strangely at peace, and it makes her angry just to see him, knowing what they lost to get here. What she had to lose to do this.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she starts, kneeling next to his coffin. Her fingers shake around the blood bag, curling in tightly until she's afraid she'll ruin it. "He was supposed to be here too, we were going to do this together, it wasn't—"

She's crying. She hates herself for crying, but not as much as she just hates herself. She flips the cap on the bag and leans over him, blonde curls spilling onto his cheek. "It wasn't supposed to be hard," she whispers.

She presses his mouth open with one hand and starts to pour.

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Here's what happens:

Tyler jumps Damon in the parking lot of The Grille, easy. Bonnie's chanting next to him, and as Damon claws at his temples, Tyles sinks his teeth into the fleshy part of his arm and growls a little.

Caroline is watching with Elena from her car and thinking, _that's kind of hot when it's not me._

Then, as Damon crumples to the pavement swearing, Stefan rushes out, eyes wide, but nowhere near as shocked as he should be. "What the hell, Tyler?"

This is the part where Tyler is supposed to negotiate Damon for Klaus. This is supposed to be a piece of cake. This is not how it goes.

"Turning on your own kind now? You're an abomination, Lockwood."

And it's almost slow motion, the way Alaric appears. The way his hand disappears into Tyler's chest as Stefan starts yelling and Bonnie tries to cripple him with another spell, the veins in her arms turning black and crawling like spider webs up her neck. Caroline is running across the lot before she even realizes it, crying and screaming and _Tyler no no nononono TylerTylerTyler please_

Stefan slams Alaric into the ground with surprising force but not enough speed. Tyler's heart slides out of his hand. Alaric laughs.

Caroline doesn't stop screaming.

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Klaus' eyelids flutter once, like butterfly wings, before he actually wakes. Caroline backs away from him and presses her face to her knees. Her shorts are smeared with dirt and moss and there's dust and who knows what else clinging to the gold of her hair. She's thinking about how Stefan probably could have left his old bromance in a more accommodating place when he sits up and rubs his neck.

"What in the bloody hell—" he pauses as she tips her head up to him, mascara running in thick black streaks down to the gentle curve of her jaw. "Caroline?"

She wipes at her cheeks with the sleeves of Tyler's old jacket and looks back at him stonily. "Tyler died so we could wake you up," she tries to keep her voice even but it breaks on his name anyways, and Klaus' lips thin, "so you better help me kill Alaric."

(Later, she'll realize she'd said 'me' not 'us' and had meant it, fiercely. She'll wonder if he'd seen that in her. She'll wonder if that's why he'd agreed so easily, like he didn't even need to think about it.)

He cracks his neck, eyes slanting towards her. "I see no reason why I shouldn't; that hunter is a danger to my family as well."

"Okay," she whispers, because that's as close to a yes as she is going to get, and straightens her clothes. "Let's go, then."

She avoids eye contact and makes it two steps before his fingers catch her wrist, thumb pressing against the spot where her pulse had once beat steady. She inhales hard, wills herself to ignore the warmth she's always felt around him. This isn't the time— there will never _be _a time—

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, and she glances over her shoulder to see him and the softness in his eyes, the one she'd only ever seen directed at Rebekah or he— "Caroline. I'm sorry."

Even though she's sure he doesn't mean it, she starts to cry for what feels like the hundredth time, folding into herself. The hand he isn't holding is curled limply against her chest. He stands without letting go of her.

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"This isn't happening," Caroline gasps. Her throat is raw, and she's covered in blood from elbow to wrist. None of it is hers. "This— this can't— Stefan, tell me this is a nightmare please."

"Caroline—"

"_Please."_

Stefan and Elena are both supporting Damon, who's already covered in a thin layer of sweat. His head lolls forward briefly, then jerks up again. "Shouldn't have bit me," he's mumbling, "stupid, stupid plan— I am the only one with good plans—"

"Shut up," Caroline whimpers, pressing her forehead against Tyler's cold one, "just _shut the fuck up, Damon_."

Elena reaches out tentatively, like she's dealing with a scared animal. Absently, Caroline thinks, _maybe she is_. "Care," she smoothes her red fingers out from their tight fists, rubbing the joints until her knuckles loosen. "Care."

"Why does everyone keep dying." Caroline sniffles. "This isn't _fair. _It wasn't supposed to— he got turned into a vampire for fuck sake's, he wasn't supposed to _die_—"

She feels rather than sees Stefan and Elena share a look. Damon is still muttering to himself. Bonnie comes back from the car, where she'd had to phone the police, stricken. "Your mom just told me the council knows you're a vampire."

Caroline's dead-still heart lodges somewhere in her throat. "Oh my God."

Bonnie crouches down quickly and squeezes her shoulders. "Care, it's going to be okay; we just need to wake up Klaus and—"

There's that glint again. Caroline pulls away abruptly and threads her fingers through Tyler's stiff ones, lips trembling. "I don't wanna."

Bonnie's voice is sharp. "You have to; you're the only one he'll actually consider listening to instead of just killing."

Caroline chokes on a hysterical, wet noise she hasn't made since her dad ran out. Stefan pries her away from Tyler with a gentleness rarely seen since before Damon had been bitten the first time and flattens his palm out against the small of her back. "Shh, just take deep breaths."

She almost laughs. Looks at Tyler instead and starts crying again. Stefan coaxes her back towards her car and sits her on the hood. She stares at the dip of his collarbones to avoid looking anywhere else. "Hey, I'm up here."

She flicks her eyes towards him, then back down. He sighs. She meets his gaze this time.

"I know I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping that promise I made you," his voice is low, calm and soothing. His fingers work along her hairline in slow strokes. "But I'm going to fix that. I'm going to fix _this, _Caroline. I won't let you be hurt anymore."

_It's a little late for that, _she thinks bitterly, but says, "what're we gonna do about Tyler?"

Stefan kisses her temple as Elena stumbles over to them and wraps thin arms around her. Caroline realizes she's shaking, too. "'Lena."

"We'll figure something out," she says into her neck, determined. "This ends now."

"But first," Stefan glances over at Bonnie, who's whispering over Tyler's body and glaring at Damon. "We need to wake the beast."

Caroline, for reasons she might only ever understand centuries later, bursts into tears again and can't find it in her to stop.

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Days later, when the dust has settled, she will still remember the smell of the tomb and the gentle pull of Klaus' fingers through her hair.

* * *

**TBC.**


	2. a thousand

**notes** | I'm sorry this took.. Forever. I got stuck in a writing rut, and then I wrote 'she's murder grey' instead of finishing this but now all is good. I swear. Also, sorry this is so jumpy and erratic time-line wise. The next part will be more streamlined; this is just wrapping up a lot of the scenes from last chapter. Guess the song lyrics, win a prize!

Okay, not really.

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_I'd like to collapse with you  
And ease you against this song  
I think we're compatible  
I see that you think I'm wrong_

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Here's what nobody remembers: she's insecure, she's neurotic, she's Caroline Forbes and she's a control freak. Her back-up plans are going to have back-up plans, okay? She may hate Damon most days but she's not going to just let him _die_ from a werewolf bite and a half-assed contingency plan that would make him proud any other day. Because, seriously, the odds of Klaus helping them were slim to none. He was probably more likely to kill Stefan, laugh as Damon died slowly, and then kidnap her and drag her to some obscure third world country— or Rome, or Tokyo, or Pa— _stop it_ — where she'd be forced to deal with showering once a week.

That was just not okay.

So, she's in Elena's room and she's about to tell her exactly what she thinks of Elena's new-found taste for attempted murder (_is it murder if he's already technically dead? whatever_) when Elena reaches into her night stand and pulls out a small bottle of blood.

Caroline wrinkles her nose. "Is this one of those Angelina Jolie-Billy Bob Thornton things? 'Cause I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure Stefan _drank _whatever you gave him."

"It's Klaus' blood." Elena exhales heavily when Caroline chokes out, "so it _is _one of those things—" and fixes her with an exasperated look that's usually reserved for Jeremy. "From when Damon got bit."

Caroline races through all the questions in her head and settles on, "but I thought Damon drank all of it?"

Elena shrugs, indifferent. "I don't think there's a ratio system for this sort of thing."

Caroline, who's always hated fractions because seriously, who cares about adding bits of numbers together or whatever, mutters, "_ratios" _like it's a curse and Elena smiles almost absently. "Why did you keep it? You're not a secret Klaus fan girl, are you?"

Because that would be all kinds of wrong and she's already getting enough flack from Damon for his creepy obsession; she doesn't need to get blamed for Elena's sudden fixation too and _oh my god, what if she has a shrine?_

Deep down, part of her brain wonders why she can't keep just one thing to herself, just one, even if it's really disturbing.

Elena shifts closer, the hem of her pajama pants dragging across the floor, and presses the vial into Caroline's palm gently. "I kept what was left over a secret, in case of an emergency."

Caroline thinks, with a strange swell of pride, _Elena, you are so shady sometimes._

Elena says, "You know how Damon is." ("Oh, you mean an asshole?")

She says, "I didn't want them getting reckless."

She says, "I think this counts as an emergency."

Caroline blinks once, twice, and folds her fingers over the vial carefully. "Klaus is going to want a deal, probably."

A part of her, that secret, ancient part that still worries about Tyler choosing Elena one day, the one she thought she'd let die in that hospital all those months ago, thinks _he'll want you _and doesn't shiver for the right reasons. She squares her shoulders, takes a deep breath, and pushes the thought down.

Elena leans on her, chin hooking her shoulder, and exhales slowly. There's a scratch above her eyebrow from a training session with Jeremy earlier that day— she'd refused the gaping vein in Stefan's wrist afterwards, said she'd wanted to feel _human, _and it hadn't been serious anyways but it's just another reminder of how very fragile Elena's life is. "Doesn't he always? At least this way you guys have an out."

Caroline huffs a laugh, says, "this isn't an out, Elena, this is just another way everything could go wrong."

Fingers twist into the back of her shirt, near the base of her spine, and Elena's eyelashes brush Caroline's cheek when she frowns. "I know," she whispers, "but it's the only thing I could think of to keep him away from you."

Caroline turns halfway to see the sad, downward tilt of Elena's mouth. "What—"

And then Elena says what she's been thinking all along. "He's going to want you." She pushes their foreheads together and shakes, her voice catching. "If he wants a deal, odds are it'll be for you, and I can't, Care, I just can't lose anymore people. So you have to say no and you have to run and I'll become a vampire if I have to, just—" she hiccups violently, "just say no, okay?"

Caroline stares across the room at Elena's vanity mirror. There's a picture of the three of them — her, Elena and Bonnie — in their cheer uniforms, and she thinks of the life Elena could still have, one full of love and grandchildren and aging gracefully. One full of boyfriends she'll break up with for regular reasons and epic _human _romance.

She knows she really wants Elena to be around forever, her eternal bestie, her frenemy, the girl she'll kill for if she ever needs to. But Caroline also knows that's a selfish thought, one reserved for the selfish, shallow, _human _girl she'd been once.

"Okay," she finally says, after a long pause, and Elena smiles a small smile that is still painfully bright into her shoulder.

(Caroline wonders how much dry shampoo she'll need to survive wherever Klaus takes her. Wonders if she'll have to beg him not to make her kill people. Wonders if Elena will ever forgive her.)

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The moment is broken when Damon yells, "hey! Kind of fucking _dying _out here, Blondie. But it's no big deal or anything, take your time. Not like it's _your goddamn fault _or anything."

Caroline's head jerks up sharply as Klaus' fingers slowly pull through her hair one last time. She can't describe the expression on his face as anything other than _soft _and it's not a word she'd ever though she'd associate with him but it fits—

(and that's a lie, because he's always looked at her like that, like she's the only one in the room, and she's tried to pretend it doesn't make a part of her race, just a little, to have someone want her _that _badly, so she tells him off and throws parties when he's sort-of dead and drinks a lot so she doesn't remember the bit of a thrill she'd had when he'd pressed up behind her in the school, whispering in her ear. Pressing into her thigh. Wanting. Always wanting.)

"I take it something has happened to Damon," he drawls, lips curving with mirth. Caroline pushes herself to her feet— _when did I end up on the ground again, oh my god is that a spider, ew, ew, oh god_— and nods. He stares when she drags her tongue over the front of her teeth. "I take it that's why you all came here to begin with?"

"Not all of us were willing," she says without thinking, and winces when he looks at her almost… oh, god, was that _triumph _in his eyes? "It's a long story?"

"We'll have plenty of time for you to tell me all about it later." And she hates the way he purrs at her because seriously, who does that, and her boyfriend is dead and she's still really messed up, so she rolls her eyes and leaves him crouching next to his coffin. "Did you miss me, Caroline?"

"I'm not answering that," she says. Stefan is standing near the entryway, foot tapping impatiently, lips a thin, white line. "That's honesty you _won't _be thanking me for."

He huffs a laugh, suddenly much closer behind her, and all she thinks is _freaking sociopaths _before they're both outside and Stefan is crowding up against him like he can take him in a fight, his face drawn. Caroline guiltily stares at her car, where Damon is half leaning out of the backseat.

"What," he says, panting, "did you two have a quickie? How charming."

"Don't be crass," Klaus says drolly, squinting at him.

"Don't be an ass," Caroline grumbles, leaning in Stefan's spot against the outer tomb wall. Damon flutters his eyelashes at her.

"Oh, Stefan, they're speaking in rhyme now! It must be _love_."

"My reasons for helping you are quickly fading by the second." Klaus quirks an eyebrow at Stefan. "Actually, I believe they just ran out."

Stefan growls, actually _growls _at him. "We woke you up, didn't we? If anything, you owe us. So help him already."

Caroline puts her face in her hands when Klaus outright _laughs _in Stefan's face, thinks _this night has definitely gone straight to hell _and quietly makes her choice.

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Stefan is hustling Damon into her car when Elena murmurs, "remember the blood" into her neck, cheeks damp. "We'll take care of Tyler."

She wants so desperately to say _fuck this plan _and just curl around Tyler and never move ever again. She wants to throw Klaus' blood across the parking lot, scream until her throat is raw, hand it off to Stefan and tell him to deal with it because she's done.

Instead, she bites her lip and nods, slowly, as Elena backs away from her with her sad, dewy eyes. Stefan presses his palms insistently against the space between her shoulders and pushes her almost roughly into the passenger seat.

"Sorry," he grumbles, slamming her door too hard. Caroline thinks she hears the metal dent. "We're kind of on a time constraint."

"No shit, Sherlock," Damon mutters from the back seat, sucking greedily on a blood bag. Caroline grits her teeth when he sprays red all over her new seat covers and turns on the radio. "What, did you and Watson over there figure that out all on your own?"

"Damon," Stefan says, patient as he pushes on the clutch and tears off down the street so abruptly Caroline feels the seatbelt cut into her throat, "say it, don't spray it. And shut up. And lay down."

Caroline can _feel _Damon rolling his eyes behind them. "Anything else, your majesty?"

"I will break your neck." Stefan's got his crazy face on when she looks at him, but the worried lines around his mouth make her relax. His knuckles are white against the steering wheel. "You need to save your strength until we get to Klaus."

Damon groans, loudly. "Ugh, is anyone else getting a bad taste of déjà vu?"

"All I can taste is your cologne," Caroline mutters, pushing down the wave of nausea when she realizes it's the same brand as Tyler's, "did you _bathe _in it this morning or something?"

"Sorry, next time your boyfriend decides to bite me, I'll be sure to wear something different. _Oh, wait._"

"_Damon," _Stefan snarls, taking a sharp turn on the highway and side-eyeing her as she digs her nails into her seat. The leather tears cleanly beneath her hands. "_Be quiet."_

"Oh, for fuck sake's," Damon mutters, head lolling against the window, "me and Klaus have a thing. I get bit by werewolves and, for the new discounted price of _your soul_, he saves my ass. This is now our thing."

"Damon," Caroline says through her teeth, as Stefan nearly rips the steering wheel clean off the column, his eyebrows drawn together tightly, "please just try and stay alive. You can be an asshole later."

"We have a thing," Damon's got _his_ crazy eyes going on when Caroline turns halfway to glare at him, "_just let me die_."

"Not happening, brother," Stefan pushes down on the gas and the engine sputters briefly before roaring. Caroline presses her face into Tyler's jacket and counts backwards from ten. World War III in her car between the Salvatores is the _last _thing she wants to put up with right now. The tires screech against the pavement.

She smells burnt rubber, wrinkles her nose, and reaches back to pat Damon's knee awkwardly. The vial feels heavy in the pocket of her sweater. "Do not throw up blood in my car."

He fakes a cough that sounds suspiciously like _assholes _but she's too busy watching Stefan swerve around construction signs and drive right through the cemetery gates to care. "_Oh my god_."

Gravel sprays up around them, and she can see every tiny crack in her windshield as Stefan brakes heavily and sends them all lurching forward. Damon hisses against her center console, an old Styrofoam coffee cup crumpling beneath his forehead. "When was the last time you cleaned up, Blondie?"

And suddenly, she's just so _mad_.

"The last time you had a likeable personality," she snipes, throwing open her door, and tearing off her seat belt. Stefan is already pushing the stone slab in front of the tomb away. "So, like, the Ice Age."

"So clever," Damon groans, rolling backwards onto the seats, face pinched in pain. "You're so _fucking _clever, Barbie."

"Just shut up and let me save your life," she growls, "and if you leave sweat stains in my backseat, _I will end you._"

Stefan is leaning against the side of the tomb, hands shoved in his pockets, trying to feign indifference, when she stalks up to him. He looks pale in the moonlight and his jaw is made of rock. "He's in there."

"_Joy," _she seethes, somewhere between angry and hysterical for too many reasons, and ignores the curious rise of his eyebrows as she storms past.

Walking through that first tangle of cobwebs, her face crumples back into tears and a runny nose, but she refuses to let Stefan see.

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Here's what no one remembers: she's Caroline Forbes, Vampire Barbie, and she'll do anything to protect her friends.

"I honestly don't see why I should," Klaus sneers, drawing in close, "the world would be a much better place less a Salvatore and then it'd be so much easier for me to kill Elena."

This is where the catch lies, Caroline knows, because he's agreed to help her kill Alaric but Elena has to die for that, and if he thinks that she wants _that _to happen then he really doesn't know her at all.

She opens her mouth, and Stefan steps forward. "He's my brother," he snarls, curling his fists into the collar of Klaus' jacket, and they all know Klaus is just humouring him by letting him. "What do you _want_? Another ten years? Yours. Just do it."

"Doesn't this bring back memories," Klaus drawls, smirking, "you negotiating for you dear brother while he slowly inches towards death. I must say, I'm feeling a little nostalgic Stefan." The curl of his mouth has a cruel edge to it now. "But I'm not interested in your time anymore, old friend."

The chill that goes up Caroline's spine isn't from the cold, and when he looks at her with that tilt to his lips, that knowing look in his eyes, that lift to his brow, she thinks _maybe he really does know me._

She wants to scream _we don't need your blood, you bastard _with her thumb pressed against the vial in her pocket a little harder than needed, but this is about more than Damon being on his apparent deathbed, and it's about more than Stefan pissing him off. It's about negotiating a truce for Elena, having a plan for Alaric, keeping the Originals away from them all, saving the people she loves once again from mayhem—

And maybe it's about how he'd looked at her in that hallway at the school, just a little, too.

She sets her jaw, murmurs, "yes, just do it."

Klaus laughs and actually sounds delighted, and her life wasn't supposed to be like this, making deals with the devil to save a guy she can barely stand and has every reason to hate, watching Stefan's face crumple into something horrified, desperate, pleading and thinking that she has the cure in her palm, _dammit_, she doesn't have to agree to this.

But then she remembers Elena downing tequila shots with a quick flick of her wrist, begging to keep that moment in her kitchen for just a little longer ("Hear that? It's the sound of a Klaus free life.") and she has to. She knows she does.

"No," Stefan crowds up against her, gasping against her cheek, and he's shaking a lot like Elena had been in her room the week before. "Caroline, _no_."

Klaus is already pulling open the door to the backseat and digging his teeth into his arm. She waits until she sees Damon's mouth open against his skin, pulling, to smile and touch her fingertips to Stefan's jaw.

"It's okay," she whispers, lips turned down, and they both pretend Klaus can't hear them, "if it keeps you all safe, I'll do it."

She doesn't say, _this is all partially my fault, anyways._

She doesn't say, _we don't even know what he wants from me._

She doesn't say, _we both know you'd never forgive me if Damon died._

She doesn't say, _I have nothing left to lose._

But from the look on Stefan's face as he hugs her tight and buries his face in her hair, she thinks he hears it all anyway.

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.

Later, Stefan's knuckles are white on her steering wheel and his crazy-eyes are back in full force, but he doesn't look away from the street, not even when Damon leans over the center console and starts prodding at his cheek.

"Stefanie," he drags out the 'e', lips popping off the cap of his third blood bag, "why are you side-eyeing the road like it's a blonde co-ed from the deep south?"

Caroline jerks, jarring her elbow against the window hard enough that the glass cracks. "Damon!" she hisses, pushing at his shoulder. "What, does Klaus' blood not cure _brain damage _or something?"

"He's a hybrid," Stefan says flatly, stone-faced and focusing intensely on making the next turn as sharply as possible. Damon's cheek bumps her shoulder. "Not a miracle worker."

Damon snorts and leans back into his seat, making a point of leaving sticky red fingerprints all over the sleeve of Tyler's jacket. Caroline bares her teeth at him and pulls it tighter to her body. "Was that a failed attempt at humour? You must be fine."

"Shut up, Damon," they both say, but Caroline is exasperated where Stefan is simply deadpan. She bites her lip and curls up further into her seat, trying to ignore the way Stefan is clearly ignoring their situation.

"Ya'll," Damon drawls, slouching with his arms draped over the back seat, "are a bunch of depressing Debbie downers."

"How long did it take you to come up that one?' Caroline snarks, as WELCOME TO MYSTIC FALLS rushes by in a blur of peeling white paint, "a century?"

"Feel free to run off with Sugar Daddy Hybrid any time now, Blondie."

Stefan slams on the brakes abruptly, hissing, "how can you both act so _normal?"_

Damon smirks, unfazed by his sudden sprawl across the dashboard— _again. _"Because a Barbie free life is all I've dreamed of for the past year."

Caroline doesn't miss a beat. "You dream about me?" She smiles down at him brightly. "Man, it's a good thing I'm used to, like, getting creeped on by raging psychopaths or we'd really have a problem."

"You're so heartless," Damon puts a hand to his chest, and gets this look in his eye, and she remembers that he still thinks she tried to kill him. "Oh, no, wait, that's your boyfriend."

Stefan has to throw her out of the car to keep her from ripping Damon into pieces. Her door barely hangs onto the frame, and the tree she slams into snaps cleanly at the base. The noise that comes out of her throat is caught somewhere between a scream and a sob, and Stefan is suddenly leaning over her and putting his hands through her hair gently, his poker face crumbling into something sadder, more hollow.

"I'm sorry," she hiccups, and reaches into her pocket to pull out the vial, but all her fingers meet are bits of glass and liquid. She shows him her palm, smeared with blood. "I didn't have another choice."

Stefan inhales once, and then his eyes flash, and then his face is hard and unrelenting in the dark as he drags her to her feet, Damon sauntering away from the car towards them slowly. "That's Klaus' blood."

She nods and makes a quiet noise of consent. He shakes her violently. "Why didn't you just give us _that _Caroline?"

"Because it wouldn't have kept Elena safe," she meets his glare head-on, her eyes narrowing. "Tell me you wouldn't have done the exact same thing."

Damon is suddenly at her hip, examining her hand in fascination. "This is—"

Stefan nods tersely. "Yeah."

The fingers digging into her wrist press tighter until his nails bite into her skin so deep she feels a vein tear. "What the actual _fuck _is going on, Barbie?"

So she tells them, in one breath, and doesn't look ashamed when they both step away from her. Damon's gaze sweeps over her like he's never met her before, and she realizes he's looking at her with _approval, _and god, could everyone stop giving her the eye like she wasn't capable of being useful for like _two seconds_?

"I can't believe Elena," Stefan says, on a forced exhale.

Damon shrugs, still staring at her critically. "I can."

"She didn't want me to make a deal," Caroline defends hastily, chewing at the inside of her cheek. Her fingers curl around the edges of Tyler's sweater. "She didn't know about that part."

Stefan's eyebrows slash together and he turns away from her, towards the tree he nearly put her through instead. Damon takes two steps forward and raps his knuckles against the side of her head. "You did good, Barbie," he mutters grudgingly, lips pursed. "Just keep him entertained until we get rid of Stabby McStabs-a-lot. Then we'll whisk you away to… I don't know… Ethiopia, I guess?"

Caroline scoffs, the corners of her mouth quivering as she thinks of dry shampoo. "Bzzt. Incorrect. Sorry, you are the weakest link. Goodbye."

Damon rolls his eyes. "Whatever, I'll get you back in Double Jeopardy later."

"You are both insane," Stefan says, staring at them, arms folded. "How are neither of you reacting _at all _to what happened tonight?"

"Tyler's dead," Caroline says, fighting the watery break in her voice, "and Klaus has a crazy family who'll help us now. I won't let anyone else die because we couldn't get things right the first time, Stefan."

"But this," Stefan gestures wildly, "this is _dangerous_."

Damon catches Stefan's eye and the corner of his mouth kicks up. "_This _is dangerous?" The side-eye comes out in full force. "Is this your first day alive here in Mystic Falls or something?"

"You agree with this?" Stefan asks, gritting his teeth. Damon gives him a one-shouldered shrug. "And I know I can't talk Caroline into living underground."

"Please, have you seen how much time she spends sunbathing even though she's _dead_? She'd have a stroke."

"And here I was hoping you'd do that for me," she says out of the corner of her mouth. Damon winks. His mood is significantly lighter without the whole attempted-murder thing looming over him, so there's one plus for the night. "I'm keeping my end of the deal, Stefan. Whatever that may be."

"Probably sex," Damon muses, as Stefan rushes forwards and pulls her to his chest, arms pressing into her sides until her bones start to creak, and, when they both shoot him scathing looks, adds, "_what? _That's probably the _best _case scenario anyway."

"Sonuvabi—" Caroline mumbles into Stefan's shoulder, because _oh god, she can't even_. Stefan half-laughs, half-sighs, and for a minute, she pretends everything is okay.

"I'd say this is touching," a voice drawls from the shadows, "but all I really want to do is throw up."

Damon whirls first, fangs out, snarling, "_Kol._"

"Relax, darlings," he purrs, grinning too wide to be up to anything even remotely safe, a baseball bat cradled under his arm. "I'm simply here to collect the prize."

He extends his hand towards her, and Caroline thinks _of course he couldn't give me a little time with Elena, of course_ before stomping forward. Damon and Stefan immediately put themselves between her and Kol. "Guys, what the hell?"

"Oh," Kol's lips twist unpleasantly, tone bordering on dangerous. "Shall we play again? I've gotten rather good at hitting home runs and, Damon, you make a _fantastic _ball."

"That was terrible," Caroline says, without thinking, as she cautiously side-steps the boys and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Like, actually really, truly terrible."

Kol's grin gets wider, more sinister, if possible. "You'd best get used to it, sweetheart. Rumour has it we'll be spending _a lot _of time together."

"Okay, I lied," Damon says, expression utterly blank as he slouches down, Stefan's fists curling in synch with his, "a _ménage à trois _is the best case scenario."

Caroline punches him, shrieking, and then Kol is grabbing her around the waist and chuckling, "oh, this is going to be _fun_" into her ear, and Stefan's shouting while Damon prods at the rapidly healing bones under his eye and then—

Darkness.

* * *

**TBC.**


End file.
